The Tastiest Venues & Event Spaces in Pittsburgh

Altius

★★★★☆ 4.4 (901) • $$$$

"Best views of Pittsburgh & I get to ride a tram to it? Yes, please! Altius in Pittsburg is a must visit restaurant but get a reservation. It offers some of the best views of the city. While enjoying dinner, the city works below you. It's a stunning backdrop for dinner. I had a wonderful evening, enhanced by the super attentive staff who made sure every detail was perfect. I decided to play chef and customized their burrata salad by adding shrimp and a scallop. What a total power play. Loved it!"

Monterey Bay Fish Grotto

★★★★☆ 4.2 (780) • $$$

"Monterey Bay Fish Grotto is an upscale seafood restaurant that is located on Mount Washington and offers gorgeous views of the Pittsburgh skyline. The dining room has two levels and has glass walls that allow customers to see downtown Pittsburgh's skyscrapers and rivers while they eat their meals. The menu lists foods such as oysters, calamari, shrimp, mussels, lobster, crab cakes, scallops, sea bass, flounder, salmon, swordfish, tuna, branzino, etcetera. My husband and I have eaten meals at this restaurant for over a decade. During our most recent meal, the seating hostess promptly greeted and seated us. Our waitress was prompt and courteous.Here are my reviews for our foods:Peach-Please mocktail - 5 stars. This mocktail contained peach ginger beer, ginger peach tea, blackberry syrup, and lime. Surprisingly, it tasted very sour, even after mixing it, but I really liked it. Mediterranean salad - 5 stars - I greatly enjoyed the large amount of greens, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, red onions, pepperoncini, chick peas, feta cheese, and red-wine vinaigrette. Caesar salad - 4 stars - This Caesar salad was fresh and tasted as expected.Seafood trio appetizer - 4.3 stars - The crab cake was very meaty and tasted very good (5 stars). Skewers contained chunks of tuna, swordfish, and salmon (4 stars). A couple of shrimp were nicely cooked and seasoned (4 stars). Jamaican king salmon - 5 stars - The salmon was cooked perfectly, and I liked its jerk seasoning, curry-butter sauce, and side of Caribbean confetti rice. Ahi big-eye tuna - 2.5 stars - My husband ate this entree, and he did NOT like the large amount of sinew or connective tissue, which gave the tuna an extremely chewy texture. Tuna is his favorite fish, and he orders it at many restaurants, and we have not seen so much sinew elsewhere. He did like the spicy sauce and the side of pesto linguini. Angel-food grilled-cheese sandwich - 5 stars - This dessert might sound unusual, but it was delicious. Caramelized angel food cake contained cream-cheese filling and was served with berry compote, vanilla ice cream, and almonds."

Penn Brewery

★★★★☆ 3.6 (393) • $$

"Penn Brewery traces its origins back to 1848 when German families operated breweries here. The current business began to brew craft beer in 1986, but some of the original buildings remain and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.I never drink beer, so I unfortunately cannot review Penn Brewery's beers. Sorry! Instead, I visited Penn Brewery because they also have a restaurant. My husband and I arrived at noon on a Saturday, and we parked our vehicle in a free on-site garage. We felt unsure of where to walk, but we found our way to the front entrance of the restaurant by walking down steps, past stone caves, and up other steps.Penn Brewery's website says that reservations for the restaurant are strongly suggested, but many tables were available during our lunch, so I assume that reservations would be needed instead for a Friday night or Saturday night. Our waitress spoke to us very courteously. She accidentally gave me an outdated menu, so I ordered food that is no longer offered and then had to choose a different food from a new menu. I saw the new menu briefly, but I remember reading about appetizers such as pierogies, poutine, truffle fries, salads, Hungarian goulash, and wings and entrees such as sausage, salmon, and cajun pasta. Prices were moderate.The waitress and another employee brought out our foods after short waits. My husband and I rate the pretzels with cheese and mustard as 5 stars, the potato pancakes with applesauce and sour cream as 3.5 stars, the wienerschnitzel (fried pork sandwich) as 3 stars, the mashed potatoes with gravy as 5 stars, the cod sandwich as 3 stars, the German potato salad as 5 stars, and the apple strudel as 5 stars. Please visit Penn Brewery's website for information about their public events and private parties."

Hartwood Restaurant & Whispers Pub

★★★★☆ 4.3 (172) • $$

"Great cocktails and huge delicious salads. Really a cozy place with friendly staff. The stained glass window is amazing. Be sure to ask your server to tell you about it it's history."

Dive Bar & Grille

★★★★☆ 3.6 (228) • $$

"Happy hour? Yes, please. 6pm on a Wednesday evening, we arrive at Dive. The parking lot looks full but don't let that fool you. We were seated immediately at a comfortable table in the dining room. We were greeted promptly by a friendly server who quickly brought us our first round of Happy Hour priced drinks, and the $6 app came to us soon after. We got the cauliflower. It's lighter than fried and very tasty - not boring at all - large portion even for happy hour special. The sauce is not overpowering. It's great.Buffalo chicken sandwich was my choice - so good! Great balance of Buffalo flavor and blue cheese. It was especially good fried: the crunch added to the flavor, but you can also order grilled. I'll keep this in mind for a lower calorie choice but this time I went for the fried and I'm glad I did. It comes with one side, and I ordered regular fries. I could've skipped those since the appetizr was so plentiful (cauliflower). My husband chose the pulled pork melt. This was also a great choice. If you like tots, go for the sweat potato tots. They are served with a special cinnamon dip that compliments them nicely. Oh, about the happy hour, our server came back to us swiftly so that we had an opportunity to order a second drink at the happy hour price. Friendly service, comfortable atmosphere and great location. This is a must-go if you haven't been yet!"

J. Corks

★★★★☆ 4.2 (140) • $$$

"Ambience, food service, atmosphere are absolutely amazing! Visited friends for dinner while in town and looking forward to coming back"

Mario's East Side Saloon

★★★☆☆ 3.2 (143) • $$

"With the shadyside arts festival they should have been better staffed or maybe we hit it wrong. Not overly crowded but service was way too slow and 45 minutes plus wait for two apps of sliders and another that never arrived until we asked it to be taken off the bill because we had to go. Took 15 minutes to get two beers. Not good. Good part. Sliders were good. Sorry for the not so great review. Yes we would go back but did affect our browsing festival time being there an hour and a half."

Viva La Vida Mexican Bar & Grill

★★★★★ 4.5 (69) • $$

"According to Viva La Vida's website, their chefs put a modern twist on authentic foods from Mexico City. Their menu lists brunch foods (e.g., omelets, eggs benedict, and pancakes), salads, quesadillas, tacos, fajitas, burritos, empanadas, ceviche, Mexican sushi, enchiladas, churros, flan, tres leches, and many more. A full bar offers margaritas, wines, tequilas, and other beverages. Through OpenTable, I made a reservation for my husband and me for lunch. I told the host that I had a reservation, and they promptly seated us at a table. Our waiter provided timely and polite service. Here are my ratings for what we ordered:Pink Paradise - 5 stars - This margarita contained Casamigos Blanco, watermelon, strawberry, lime, and orange. I tasted the watermelon the most and enjoyed the sweet flavor. Queso Haven Cheese Dip - 5 stars - This queso dip tasted wonderfully cheesy. We also received free tortilla chips and salsa, which were very good. Spicy Tempura Sushi - 4 stars - This sushi roll contained shrimp tempura, avocado, cucumber, I believe some cheese, and a small amount of jalapeno. It tasted slightly spicy. (I like moderately spicy.)Chicken Fajita - 3 stars - My husband ate this entree. It consisted of flour tortillas, chicken, green peppers, onions, rice, beans, sour cream, pico, and lettuce. My husband said that the chicken tasted as if it had no marinade or spice. I took one bite, and I agreed that it tasted plain compared to other restaurants' fajitas. (My husband is part Mexican, and we have vacationed in Mexico many times.)Golden Elote Corncake - 5 stars - This dessert was a corncake with Mexican eggnog. The corncake was moist and slightly sweet. It came with strawberries, cream, and vanilla ice cream, and it tasted very good. About three hours later, the restaurant cancelled my reservation through OpenTable. I had to contact OpenTable and upload a photo of my receipt to prove that I had dined at this restaurant, so that I would not be considered a "no show" and would receive my 100 OpenTable points."

Lawrence Hall

★★★★☆ 4.2 (69)

"Great drinks and fast service. This is a cute place to go grab a drink or something to eat. The decorations are beautiful and the service is really good. There's multiple restaurants so if you have a group of people it will be good because everyone can get what they want."

SchoolHouse Tavern

★★★★☆ 3.5 (69) • $$

"We stopped in with friends after a funeral service.we all just ordered drinks and beer. Service was on the ball and on top of getting us refills. Apparently they have some really good Bloody Mary's. Mules were pretty good too. Beer selection was pretty decent too. Wasn't loud or obnoxious in here like some small bars can be. We might go back if we were in that area to try something off the food menus"

Level 20

★★★☆☆ 3.3 (58) • $$

"Visited tonight for fish sandwiches for lent! It's my favorite time of year and we loooove to try new places!! Before we went, I was super excited to eat their sandwich because we had heard good things about it!! When we arrived, others had ordered the fish and it looked amazing and was huge. I ordered my fish sandwich, and so did the rest of our table. It was okay, but just ok. It was not as good as I expected it to be or how it looked to be. It is a beer battered cod (which is my favorite) but it's really lacking the beer battered part. The batter used seems extremely thin on the fish. The proportion of fish to batter was absolutely lacking. Some parts of my fish sandwich were really thick too which I don't prefer. The fish was really watery/slimy too. It caused the bun to be soggy. The fish almost had an uncooked/slimy taste/texture to the thicker parts of the fish. I think it could have been cooked longer (was cooked enough to eat, but not fully to take away the slime factor). The fries were really good though and the food did come out extremely hot! The wings were very good though. Would get those again. We got the buffalo wings and weren't disappointed!"

Cefalo's Banquet & Event Center

★★★★★ 4.7 (18)

"Attended a "Craft Beer University" fundraiser at this location last night and it was awesome! The beer portion of the event is always great but the host usually requests pasta for all us attendees. In exciting news, the head chef recommended a switch and offered a charcuterie board with pairings that were AWESOME with the craft beers. IMO, that small change took this great fundraiser and made it an event that I will never want to miss year after year. It's family owned and operated (and I think that means something) and if I could have my wedding all over again, I would hands down choose this venue because you can tell they CARE about everyone's enjoyment and satisfaction. It's nice to know that they are personally invested in your enjoyment of their venue. Did I mention it's a converted church? SO COOL!"

Kacie's Sports Cafe

★★★★☆ 4.4 (15)

"Great food, fast service. Food came in minutes. Seat yourself and enjoy breakfast all day and ask for daily specials."

Rock Run Inn

★★★★☆ 4 (16) • $$

"If you're looking for a fancy place this isn't it. However, if you're looking for good food and service this place is ideal. Stopped by for the first time for lunch and was very impressed. It's located at the golf course but is open to the public (no membership needed)You could literally smell the cleaning products as soon as you walked in the door which is always a plus in my book. We were greeted by a very nice woman from behind the bar who just happened to be our waitress as well. She seemed to be the only employee there bouncing back and forth from bartending to waitressing. She handled it very well. I was impressed with her quality of service and her patience with the bar crowd. I will mention that this place can get very loud depending on the bar patrons, not the best place for kids. The bar takes up a great deal of space with seating for people who want to dine wrapped around the bar. They do have a separate dining room area, but it was closed off while we were there. Which is completely understandable since there was just one person running the entire place. The menu had a pretty big selection and everything that we got there was delicious. I ordered the cheese steak with fries and thought it was very tasty. The meat was cooked perfectly and juicy instead of being over cooked, dry and crispy like other cheese steaks I've had in the past.We'll definitely be back!"

La Casa Mexicana

★★★★★ 4.6 (12)

"Service was outstanding! You just didn't get a server, you got a team! A team that knew exactly what your preferences were and came around often, but not bothersome! Let's talk about their House Margarita; Generous in portion and ingredients! Chips and Salsa Delicious and House Made! Food was delivered fast and fresh! Plentiful portions that were true to the menu! We could have stuffed ourselves, but wisely chose to just eat half, and take the other half home! Their Take Home Containers were sturdy and capable! We were completely satisfied with our service, meals, and speedy order to table times! We will definitely return to try other delectable menu items! *** Adjacent customers were very upbeat and positive about this restaurant, saying that they stop by once per week, for drinks and meals!"

Oakhurst Grille & Event Center

★★★★☆ 3.6 (18)

"There aren't many restaurants in the area, but we were happy to find this place when we were here for the weekend. We got the Stuffed Banana Peppers, Reuben, and Smoked Brisket Grilled Cheese. I was pleasantly surprised by the meal. Everything was good. My favorite thing was probably the Smoked Brisket Grilled Cheese. I liked the fries more than the chips because the chips were too salty. Everything was much better than I expected and I would definitely say it's worth eating at if you're staying in the area."

The Spot Etc

★★★☆☆ 3.2 (20) • $

"Great happy hour specials. The chicken is my favorite. I wish they would bring back their chicken and waffles I would be there every weekend for brunch. The atmosphere is safe and friendly. I highly recommend this place."

The Club at Shadow Lakes

★★★☆☆ 3 (18)

"This place is always very nice. I don't really understand the bad reviews. The owner is extremely nice and has been accommodating to my family when they are going to the restaurant or recently when we had a birthday party. The staff was extremely nice, even helping us trick my grandmother into going in for her "surprise". The view is stunning and the food is very good. My husband even said "this is the best food from a golf course I have had" (high praise for him). The building itself is very handicap friendly (we had a wheelchair with us) and has interesting decor. The area we were in had a great deal of Asian art. I don't have anything bad to really say, except try it out."

Caesar's Ale House & Eatery

★★★★☆ 4 (6)

"I was very happy to have found and tried Caesar's Ale House & Eatery. It was a slow night, so we had a great choice of seats. We sat at the bar and were greeted by the bartender. After talking to her, she warmed up to us and treated us like old friends. The owners were there and came over to talk to us. They have a very well stocked bar and small menu. We had the smash burgers, highly recommended. We tried the zucchini planks, they are very good. I may have found a new place to frequent. I am looking forward to my next visit. I also highly recommended trying it for yourself!"